Scorpius Malfoy and the Paracelsus Prophecy
by ADragonInTraining
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy begins his first year at Hogwarts, but a dangerous new prophecy and new friends at Hogwarts itself leaves Scorpius adventuring through the castle to save the school!


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any Harry Potter content, including characters; most character ideas, (apart from Ekirzdis) are origins of J.K. Rowling. Thank you, and hope you enjoy**

Solemn and solitary amid the crashing waves stands the triangular monolith, stretching up to the overcast sky, reaching hundreds of meters upwards towards the black clouds. The crashing waves of the sea and tumultuous winds carried the briny stench to the criminals in the penitentiary through the small windows situated at various points in the large, stone structure. The various convicts of Azkaban, put in prison for various crimes and criminalities all over Britain, were the most dangerous of all. The prison, situated in the gelid part of the North Sea, was the temporary home for many—if the rough, terrifying and horrible treatment that the prisoners received could be anything like. The Devil's breath itself—the wind—whips the cerulean waters around the rocks on which the prison sits. The Sun had not graced this part of the water for many months, keeping the walls and prisoners within them frozen to the bone. The foreboding clouds gazed over the prisoners for the entire duration of the day, watching and throwing gargantuan droplets of rain down on the stone walls.

The Dementors, cloaked and dark, struck fear into the hearts of anyone who laid their eyes on them. Silent and dangerous were the creatures shrouded in black, with shrivelled fingers and bitter breath. Their cloaks, frayed and tattered, were darker than the night itself, and covered them from head to toe, hiding what nobody could be sure of from the world outside. And at that very moment, they floated around the perimeter of the building, gazing with unknown eyes for any escapees or people that might possibly try to bail others out. They quietly moved with an indescribable grace and horror, their raspy breaths omitting from gaping, black holes that were used to perform the Dementor's kiss on repeat criminal offenders. Their dangerous guarding methods were enough to keep troublemaking wizards away from the jailhouse in which so many dangerous wizards were kept. The three-meter-tall creatures, with empty eye sockets that stared unknowingly out over the choppy waters, had no hair on their bodies. Instead, their skin was covered all over with various scabs of all shapes and sizes. The creatures, mighty in size, fed off the positive emotions of the humans to fuel their fire, surviving and thriving off the terrible memories and thoughts of young and old wizards alike.

In the distance came a boat, floating abnormally gracefully over teeming white waters. The wooden boat, small in size and frame, carried nothing but a tall, cloaked figure with a dark hood draped over his whole body. This creature was thought to have been dead for thousands of years, since the dawn of magic itself. This creature, black-clad and threatening in stature and aura, stood straight, guiding the boat safely over the water with his hand. And his hands, his hands were thin and frayed, so frayed, in fact, that more bone was visible that flesh. This creature was full of anger and rage at the prophecy he had received only days ago from the Truthfulness Tablets he had found deep in the earth, buried many years ago by wizards too weak to use their power. He remembered what the magical tablets had scrawled in ancient text on them. He needed only to wave his hand over the tablets for him to understand the magical language. It had read:

You will attack Hogwarts in the dead of the night

You hope they'll be dead before the morning light

But the first-year, Malfoy, with hair blonde-white

Will be the one to put up the fight.

The creature had been furious at this, and had destroyed the Truthfulness Tablets in a fit of rage. He had thrown the stone tablets to the ground and spoken the magic word, Diffindo, and the tablets had split in half. A regular magician wouldn't have been able to conjure such magic, but this creature's power stretched far beyond any regular magical being. The erratic behaviour of this creature was dangerous to anyone or anything that came close to it. That's why this creature was feared by many, and spoken of in hushed tones among wizards in the magical community. This creature's name was feared by so many that it was equivalent to even that of the Dark Lord himself, but nowhere near as talked about, as many presumed him to be dead and no longer important. But the creature still roamed the earth, and was now making its way towards the haunting penitentiary. The creature was dangerous, and its name was Ekirzdis.

Ekirzdis made his way over the water in the boat, its hull barely even gracing the choppy waters. He was getting closer now, almost at the rocks surrounding the jail. Ekirzdis was shorter than the Dementors slowly circling the wizard prison, but what he lacked in size, he made up in magical strength. Ekirzdis was there now, at the banks of the jail house. He glided upwards over the front of the boat and landed gracefully on the wet array of rocks. The ultramarine water splashed up against and over the rocks, but Ekirzdis felt none of the water or the rippling cold air; he was simply immune.

The Dementors swarmed towards Ekirzdis, but the hooded figure was not worried in the slightest. He knew that the Dementors would not harm him. After all, he was the leader and father of all hooded figures in the wizarding world. Primarily, there were only the Dementors and the Lethifold, but a complete legion of dark creatures were led by Ekirzdis, hanging on to his every word and every action. The Dementors had been created after Ekirzdis had managed to successfully harness the magical powers of the dead and the horridly sad thoughts of wizards. He had mixed the terrible wizards' thoughts with the necromancy magic to create the form of the Dementors and Lethifolds, and they were completely at his command.

Ekirzdis was guided by the Dementors towards the barred gate at the very bottom of the wizarding prison. The Dementors used their scabbed hands to wrench open the gate, and it moved open with a slow, loud creak. Ekirzdis walked through the open, gaping hole into the abyss that was the wizard prison.

The first thing Ekirzdis noticed was the rancid smell. The repugnant stench of rotting flesh was laced all through the building. Prisoners sneaked towards Ekirzdis from inside their prison cells, reaching their hands out desperately towards the dark wizard. He completely ignored them, however, and made his way up towards the top floor, where, waiting for him, sat the person Ekirzdis was looking for the most.

Ekirzdis made his way down the darkened hallway lined with prison cells towards the upper room, climbing the steps so gracefully that he almost seemed to be gliding over the stone structure. Up, up, up he climbed, getting closer to the particular prisoner he was looking for with every step—or rather glide over stone platform. He was there now: the top level of the wizarding prison. He was there now, standing right in front of the prison cell, and he whispered into the darkened jailroom, 'Hello, Herpo.'

The wizard locked inside the prison was old beyond his years: a white beard slunk all across the floor towards the locked gate, and yellow, glowing eyes could be seen amid the darkness. Ekirzdis cast a glowing orb of fire into his bony hands and held it out between the two dark wizards.

''So, Ekirzdis, come begging for my help, have you?'' said Herpo the Foul, the dark wizard credited with the creation of the Basilisk.

''I come with a bargain,'' said Ekirzdis. ''You see, I am in quite the predicament: Paracelsus has written my fate on the Truthfulness Tablets, and, since you and Paracelsus are the only wizards powerful enough to speak to snakes, I need you to take control of a snake and enter it into the Hogwarts castle for me.''

''A Basilisk?''

''No, a Basilisk has already been beaten before; what I need now is a Runespoor.''

''You want a Runespoor, the dangerous three-headed snake with the powers of telekinesis?''

''Yes,'' said Ekirzdis, ''Yes, I do. We must kill the boy who will defeat me.''

''Who is this boy yo speak of?''

''The young Malfoy boy about to begin his Hogwarts journey. It is prophesied that he will succeed in taking me down for good.''

''But he is a mere elven-year-old; surely he couldn't be that dangerous.''

''He has strong blood,'' said Ekirzdis.

''What's in it for me?'' said Herpo

''This task comes with a price of freedom. I will exit you from prison, as you are the only one powerful enough to talk to the snake.''

''It's a deal,'' said Herpo.

Herpo slunk forward towards Ekirzdis and held out his hand. Ekirzdis shook it with his free hand, and the deal was set.

Ekirzdis let the flame in his hand die, and he held out his hands in front of the prison bars. He needn't to even speak to them for them to implode, allowing Herpo to walk free. Other prisoners around Ekirzdis begged him to free them, too, but Ekirzdis refused. The Dementors simply witnessed, as Ekirzdis could easily do much worse thing to them if they did not oblige.

''It's simple,'' said Ekirzdis, ''you now walk a free man, but if you do not follow my orders, I will inflict the Cruciatus Curse on you.''

''I understand,'' said Herpo, ''the boy must die.''


End file.
